The Carrefour group, one of France's largest supermarket chains, says there will be no strawberries on its shelves in January.

The reason, says the company's Fresh and Traditional Products Manager Yoann Alarçon, is the environmental impact of shipping out-of-season fruit from North Africa, coupled with the lack of taste of hothouse strawberries.

In his tweet announcing the new policy he lists three reasons for the ban: “They are not in season, they are terribly tasteless, we have delicious citrus fruits, French kiwis and crunchy apples.”

The move towards greater seasonality is apparently Carrefour's new possibility, although no decisions have been taken on other items such as tomatoes.

Strawberries will return in mid February once the first Spanish strawberries are ripe, followed by French srawberries in the spring.